Even now as he hovered nearby, I could smell the mixture of his natural wet earth scent mixed in with the fresh rain that was falling outside. He’d come inside while Podcast and I were in the middle of our sign language lesson, blindfold in hand.
“It’s a surprise,” I heard Storm say as gentle hands lifted my legs to help me climb the stairs. The scent of sandalwood engulfed my senses as Doc leaned in close.
“We’re going up the kitchen stairs, so be careful,” Doc murmured into my ear and I felt the sound of his voice skitter down my spine. Heat pooled in my core and I gasped at the suddenness of it.
I had been trying my best to keep my ever-increasing attraction to Pack Steele to myself. I hadn’t repeated my kiss with Podcast after the first time, the guilt over pushing my way into an already established pack growing with each passing day.
Podcast hadn’t mentioned it again either, but there were times I could feel his eyes searching my face for the same heat that had ignited between us in his nest that day.
My face and actions I could control, but most definitely my scent wasn’t. It had grown every day as I catapulted toward my next heat.
“Sorry,” I muttered under my breath as I focused on climbing the steps and not falling backward.
“It’s all right, Juneau,” Doc said, but his voice took on the hint of a growl as he let Podcast take the lead instead. My instincts decried the loss of his heady sandalwood scent, but I forced myself to ignore them. They could scream as much as they wished, but that still didn’t mean I would acknowledge them.
We made it to the top of the landing and Podcast pulled me down the hallway, his eucalyptus perfume wafting behind him as we walked. I very likely could have followed him just by his scent alone, but I was enjoying the warm feeling of his fingers laced through mine.
“Is it ready?” I heard Storm ask someone.
The scent of the ocean and berries filled my nose as we came to a stop. “Yeah,” came Rex’s gruff reply. It was shocking that he had anything to do with a surprise for me. He wasn’t openly hostile toward me any longer, but the color still drained out of his face whenever I used my magic.
“Okay, sunshine,” Storm said as warm hands turned me to face something. “I’m going to take off the blindfold but keep your eyes closed until we tell you to open them, okay?”
“Okay!” My voice was bubbly with the excitement that I’d been working to reign in over the past few moments. Ilovedsurprises. The rest of my family abhorred them, but always humored me when I was planning surprise picnics or little gifts for them.
Gentle fingers untied the blindfold and I dutifully kept my eyes shut as I waited, bouncing impatiently on the balls of my feet.
Storm’s voice was closer the next time he spoke to me. “You can open your eyes now, Juneau.”
My eyes opened and I had to blink a few times to adjust to the light. We were standing in front of an open doorway that was situated halfway through the long hallway where all of the bedrooms were. I’d never paid it any attention before having passed by it dozens of times on my way to my own room.
I stared inside of the room, my brain trying to register what exactly I was looking at. Itlookedlike my nest. The one that I’d left behind when I fell into the future. It had the same sloped, blue walls that my nest in Wilde manor did.
On the other hand, it was much bigger than my nest. Before it had been a squeeze just for me to crawl inside, but now I was sure that I could fit several people along with myself within the space that had been created for me.
I would have to step up into the nest because there was a thick mattress lining the floor and on top of that were piles upon piles of soft blankets. That was the other difference from my nest in 1915 versus this one. The old one had been filled with quilts, crocheted blankets, cushions and other pieces of cloth I could find that felt nice to the touch. I could have asked my mother for animal furs, but they were too hot and heavy and most of them made my skin itch something fierce.
Fuzzy blankets were most definitely one of my favorite modern inventions. Nothing felt better against my skin than a soft blanket that felt as light as air.
“How?” I asked as I forced myself to take calm steps toward the nest rather than dive headlong into it.
“Podcast did most of the work,” Doc told me as I finally stepped into the nest, feeling the plush mattress sink under my foot.
I turned to look at Podcast who was smiling.‘It’s not perfect and I made some changes…’he signed sheepishly.
“Iloveit,” I gushed and launched myself across the space, relying on him to catch me as I squealed with excitement. My feet never met the ground as Podcast spun me around. “How on earth did you manage all of this?”
Podcast put me down, freeing one of his hands so that he could speak.‘Google,’he explained before glancing over my shoulder with a mischievous look.‘And Rex helped.’
There was a huff behind me and I turned to find an embarrassed-looking Rex staring anywhere but at us.
“Everyone helped,” he muttered under his breath.
“Yes but you’re the only one who is any good with power tools.” Doc’s brown eyes danced as he teased the bigger alpha. “I thought you were going to blow a gasket when Podcast was trying to figure out how to use your table saw.”
A ruddy red color filled Rex’s cheeks, just underneath his dark beard, and he and Doc began to bicker quietly.
“He made the walls and measured for the mattress pad that Doc ordered, Podcast and I were in charge of the nesting materials. Even Bat pitched in,” Storm murmured into my ear as we watched Doc and Rex argue with each other like young boys rather than fully grown men.
